ANNEX 6 Guidelines in Listening to Voice of

Learners and Other Stakeholders

GUIDELINES IN LISTENING TO THE VOICE OF THE

LEARNERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
(based on the School Improvement Project Learning Guide)

Different types of stakeholders have different needs that they want to satisfy. It is important to
understand stakeholder differences in order to satisfy their different needs.

FACILITATING AND PROBING

It is critical to have the stakeholders themselves help in identifying their own needs. When stakeholders
tell us in their own words what their needs or issues are, we may be able to pick up new ideas and
acquire a deeper understanding of their situation.

Stakeholders have different ways of saying what they need. We have to learn how to scrutinize and
understand what they truly mean. The real needs of the stakeholders may have to be inferred or
extracted from what they actually say during interviews. While they may identify the things they need, it
is critical to determine why they need these things.

Oftentimes, stakeholders are unable to directly voice out what they need or want. As such, it is
important to ask follow-up questions to identify stakeholders’ needs that are important to them. In
terms of gathering qualitative data on your identified priority improvement area, your learners and
other stakeholders should also be asked about interventions done by teachers or the school to address
their existing problem.

NEEDS AND WANTS

When gathering the voice of our stakeholders, we must be careful in determining whether something is
a need or a want. Needs are what stakeholders expect to receive from a concept or service. Wants are
preferences of a stakeholder on how to receive a concept or service. Needs are more likely common
across our stakeholders. Wants may vary from stakeholder to stakeholder even if they share the same
needs. We have to make sure to address the needs first before the wants. However, wants are
important to create a balance on what we deliver and how we deliver our service to our stakeholders.

DATA GATHERING TOOLS

There are different tools that can be used in gathering the voice of the learners and other stakeholders.
The most common way is by conducting interviews or Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). It is critical to
allow our stakeholders to elaborate on their responses in order to infer the specific needs that are
critical for them. After gathering data through interviews, we can conduct surveys to quantify and
verify the responses from the interviews. In most cases, tools need to be used in combination.

Interview questions should be open-ended. When necessary, follow-up the questions to delve further
into the stakeholder issues. In such cases, we should allow the stakeholders to talk. We must avoid
biased, leading, or loaded questions. Our questions should be clear, and the way we word the
questions should not be ambiguous.

PROCESSING
How do we analyze the responses of the learners and other stakeholders? We have to transcribe the
learners’ and other stakeholders’ responses verbatim, or word for word. The use of their own language
is important. We have to read through these interview transcriptions and highlight any statements that
you think are relevant to our PIA. It might be good to group their responses to help you classify their
needs, issues, or suggestions.
TUYOM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SCHOOL ID: 116989
116989@deped.gov.ph
Facebook: Tuyom ES
 ANNEX 6 Guidelines in Listening to Voice of
Learners and Other Stakeholders

THE VOICE OF THE

LEARNERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
NEEDS:

 What do you think are the needs of the School?

PARENTS’ RESPONSE SUMMARY:

Parent A:
The school is in
need of additional
classrooms.

School enclosure for the

safety and security of
everyone.

Parent B:

TUYOM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SCHOOL ID: 116989
116989@deped.gov.ph
Facebook: Tuyom ES
 ANNEX 6 Guidelines in Listening to Voice of
Learners and Other Stakeholders

What do you think are your wants for the School?

 LEARNERS’ SUMMARY OF RESPONSES:

1. A beautiful Playground
2. Complete ICT Equipment
3. More Reading materials
4. Colorful Classrooms
5. Beautiful Gardens/Subject
Parks
6. Various Sports Equipment
7. Complete EPP Tools

TUYOM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SCHOOL ID: 116989
116989@deped.gov.ph
Facebook: Tuyom ES